CUSMA and Tariff Info

US Import Tariffs

As of Aug 27th 2025, the USA has eliminated the deminis rule that exempted orders under $800 from having duties and tariffs, and as a result ALL orders shipping into the USA require the importer to pay a substantial tax. This is generally collected by the shipping company (DHL, UPS etc) before they will hand over your order. Fortunately, this tariff does not apply to items that fall under the CUSMA free trade agreement, and at Grin we’re proud to design and manufacture many of our products right here in Canada making them eligible for free trade.

What is CUSMA?

CUSMA stands for the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (also known as USMCA in the U.S. and T-MEC in Mexico). This trade agreement allows products manufactured in any of the three countries to be imported duty-free into the others. Most of the core Grin items like our All-Axle hub motor, our Baserunner or Phaserunner motor controllers, LiGo 10X batteries, torque arms, and accessories are properly manufactured in Canada and are CUSMA compliant.  There should be no additional taxes to pay for receiving the order. However, a few Grin items like the Satiator are produced by contract power electronics factories overseas, and so will still have duties on them. 

All of the non-Grin ebike parts that we sell (downtube batteries, Bafang, Shengyi, Nine Continent motors etc) are made overseas. They are not CUSMA compliant and will be assessed duties that you as the importer will have to pay.  

What to Expect

If you place an order for a Nine Continent motor kit, expect to receive an additional bill from UPS or DHL for 30% of the shipment value on the motor, the battery, and the charger. While the controller and torque arm (which are CUSMA compliant) should remain duty free. There may also be other paperpork, filing, and processing fees that they add on top.

If you purchased an All-Axle kit with a downtube battery, then the box containing the motor and kit should arrive without any duties to pay. But the separate dangerous goods box containing the battery will have a duty bill of 30% as the downtube and bottle batteries are all assembled in China. 

If you get an All-Axle kit with our LiGo 10X batteries, then the whole shipment would be duty-free.

Why No USPS / Canada Post

Historically the least expensive shipping option for small packages to the USA was via the Post. Unfortunately, the US postal system is unable to process CUSMA free trade goods, and so everything shipped with Canada Post / USPS would be charged 35% duty (the current blanket rate for Canada). As a result we have completely removed postal shipping as an option for the USA. 

Kinks in the System

Unfortunately, the assemsment of duties is done by separate brokers who work for UPS or DHL and isn't something Grin has control over. We do our best to ensure they have the required documentation to assess duties correctly, but the broker's goal is to clear packages as quickly as possible and they can overlook or ignore CUSMA eligibility during the process. We've seen shipments that should be duty free under CUSMA incorrectly charged duty. 

What You Need to Know as the Importer

The responsibility to request CUSMA preferential treatment technically falls on the importer (that’s you!), but we’ve simplified the process by taking care of the critical documentation,  including preparing and submitting the Certificate of Origin.

• The Certificate of Origin is the key document that qualifies your shipment for duty-free treatment under CUSMA.

• We handle all required fields and submit the necessary documents at the time of shipping, directly through the courier’s platform whenever possible.

• In most cases, no action is required on your end.

If Customs Broker Gets It Wrong

If you notice incorrect duties or charges on Canadian made items:

• Reach out to us and we’ll assist in resolving the issue.

• Alternatively, you can contact the courier’s brokerage team directly to request a detailed breakdown of the charges and ask for a duty exemption review based on the CUSMA Certificate already on file.

Final Thoughts

The USA has gone from being the easiest place in the world to order from to being by far the most expensive in a very short timeframe, and there is a lot of rapid adjustment underway. In other countries people have been used to paying VAT sales tax when they purchase goods from other countries, but this hasn't been the case for most American consumers who have had the benefit of an $800 deminis exemption for quite some time and are not used to this extra burden. 

Historically ~60% of our sales have been to American customers, and we hope with CUSMA eligibility that we will continue to make Grin items available to Americans at a reasonable cost.  We appreciate your continued loyalty to purchase from Grin and are actively looking at bringing our downtube battery assembly here in Canada too. This will allow the majority of our US kit sales to be entirely duty free.